Appeals court hears Chesapeake coal ash storage case

A federal appeals court has heard arguments in a legal battle over the storage of more than 3 million tons of coal ash from a retired power plant in Chesapeake.

A judge ruled last year that arsenic is flowing through groundwater into surrounding waters at a Dominion Energy site in Chesapeake.

The judge found that Dominion violated the Clean Water Act, but said the discharge doesn’t pose a threat to human health or the environment.

Dominion’s lawyer argued before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday that the judge’s ruling was incorrect because groundwater contamination from solid waste such as coal ash is largely regulated by state law.

The Sierra Club’s lawyer said the discharge violates the Clean Water Act and Dominion’s permit to operate a wastewater treatment plant.

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